Osmaliyeh ' Phyllo pastry"

This is another popular Lebanese confection. Osmaliyeh is luxurious, sweet and crispy with a tremendous taste you can’t resist.

This traditional dessert is the perfect delight to be made on special occasions or after a big family meal. When my kids were young, I used to prepare it more often, it was one of their favorites.

This delicious dessert is easy to prepare. It is made of two layers of crispy shredded phyllo dough, in the middle a home made light cream finally drizzled with the Lebanese syrup which is flavored with the amazing blend of rose and orange flower water.

Prep. time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 45 mins

Serves: 10 to 12

INGREDIENTS:

500 g osmaliyeh pastrie “phyllo shredded dough” or angel hair dough

3/4 cup melted butter

cream:

4 cups milk

6 white bread slices

1 cup cooking cream

4 heaped tbsp corn starch

1/4 cup of coarsely crushed pistachios

The syrup:

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

1 tsp lemon juice

2 tbsp orange blossom water

1 1/2 tbsp rose water

PREPARATION: To make the syrup put the sugar, water and the lemon juice in a small cooking pot over medium heat stirring to dissolve, boil for 5 mins. Add the rose water and orange blossom water then set aside to cool. put the phyllo dough out of the freezer and in the fridge few hours or overnight before using. It is made of very thin long noodles, it won't break while preparing it.

First prepare the cream: Put the milk, the cream and the corn starch in a medium pot. Stir well to dissolve the starch. Peel the crust of the bread, break the slices into fine pieces then add them to the mixture. Stir continuously over medium heat until they boil for 2 mins and get thickened. Remove from heat and let it cool down then refrigerate for two hours in order to thicken and cool well before using it. At the meantime prepare the phyllo dough.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (180 to 190 C ). Melt the butter, separate the dough with your hands, mix it with the butter well then divide into two parts. Put the first part in a 33 cm diameter buttered pan and bake for 15 to 20 mins then few mins from the top or until golden. Repeat the same baking procedure with the second part. Now you have two crunchy golden phyllo layers.

Put one layer on a serving plate, distribute the cream all over the dough then top it with the second layer. Decorate with droplets of cream then sprinkle the pistachios on top of them.

Cut in triangle or square pieces, drizzle the syrup all over the piece or as desire then serve.

To make the round osmaliyeh, take a thin bunch of the soft buttered dough lengthwise and roll it around each other until you shape it like a dome and put it on a greased tray. Continue the same procedure until you fill the tray or make the number of pieces you desire. Bake at the same temperature for 10 mins or until golden, after cooling down fill each one with the cream then top it with crushed pistachios. Drizzle the syrup on top of each one before serving.

Osmaliyeh is Sweet, creamy and luxurious. What a tremendous taste in this delightful dessert and it’s everything you could want in a dessert!

Enjoy!!